


Hue

by auriond



Category: Psycho-Pass
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-30
Updated: 2020-09-30
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:21:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 847
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26723563
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/auriond/pseuds/auriond
Summary: A minor case has Tsunemori ruminating on past events; Ginoza is worried about her.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 9





	Hue

It had been three months after they returned from Shambala. The reports had been filed, the usual changes requested, Sybil safely back in its seat of power. Life was back to normal, or what passed for normal at the MWPSB. 

Yet, there would be times when he still caught her looking pensive, gazing off into the middle distance, her fingers twitching as though they longed to hold a cigarette. She never actually came in to work smelling of cigarette smoke anymore, but he knew she still had the habit. 

Perhaps, in the past, he would have admonished her. In the past, he would have told her bluntly that she was ruining her health, and that none of it would help her. If anything, all this moping about could have adverse long term effects on her hue.

But he was no longer who he was then, and he held his tongue and did his job, and watched her, worrying, from a distance.

Their current case was trivial, really: a woman whose hue fluctuated alarmingly, setting off the scanners. Her behaviour was strange enough to alarm the public, but when they went to her little cramped apartment to arrest her, she had gone quietly, and while in custody her crime coefficient had actually dropped, and remained low for a few days now. It was nothing very troubling; in fact, rather encouraging, because the Chief had agreed to allow the woman to go free if her Hue remained clear for a week. It was a little unusual - the Chief often preferred to err on the side of caution in cases like these - but it was not his place to question her decisions.

Tsunemori, however, seemed very much affected by the case, often staying long nights in the office. She appeared to be obsessively researching something. On nights like these, he tried to find excuses to work overtime as well. It was not uncommon for the two of them to work long into the wee hours of the morning, not speaking, but each grateful for the other's presence.

On one such night, Tsunemori looked up from her monitor, the light from the screen bringing the dark circles around her eyes into harsh relief.

"Ginoza-san," she said, "do you think that one's Hue could actually be cleared without the help of drugs?"

So that was what was troubling her. He sighed and leaned back in his chair, gave a smile lightly tinged with bitterness. "Don't you think I'm the wrong person to ask about this?" he asked.

"Perhaps," she responded gravely, "but I also think that you're the one person in Division 1 who has thought the most about this."

She wasn't wrong about that. Maybe she knew him better than he had thought. He sighed again, deeply. "I have," he said slowly, "but I haven't done any actual research on it. I think it's better not to know."

She pursed her lips thoughtfully. "The woman we brought in - her crime coefficient has been under 100 for four days now. Maybe... if crime coefficients can be raised by being in certain circumstances... then taking them out of those circumstances might lower it too."

_Maybe_ , he thought, _but there are some circumstances that one can never be brought out of_. But he didn't voice it out. Instead he said, "You're thinking that he could come back."

She flushed slightly. "Your detective instincts are not as bad as you think they are, Ginoza-san."

There wasn't much he could say to that. 

"I know it's probably not possible," she carried on in a rush, "but one's Psycho-Pass is generally known to be something that's not fixed. It's stable over time, but it fluctuates slightly from day to day. Therapy can keep one's Hue clear."

"With the help of medication," he pointed out.

"Yes, but I've also personally been able to lower the crime coefficient of a target by trying to change the way he thinks."

"Tsunemori," he said as diplomatically as he could, "Kogami's crime coefficient was already high when he was working here. I doubt having him come back would change anything. And you already know what I think about this. The more you worry about it, the more risk you're running of clouding your own Hue. Just forget about this. Forget about all of it. He's not coming back, and you're not doing yourself any good."

She gave him a small smile. "Lecturing me like you always do, Ginoza-san?"

So much for diplomacy. "What I'm saying is, let it be. He's chosen his own path to follow. You have your own path. Let him follow his, and you focus on your own, or you'll get lost."

She didn't answer immediately. Her eyes were such a mystery. He couldn't help feeling that she held more than she was telling him. He wished that she would let it all out, but he knew better than to ask. He held his silence, and waited.

"Thank you, Ginoza-san," she said finally.

He knew that she would always wander.

"Please be safe," he said, under his breath, inaudible.


End file.
